Was over there recently and met up with a friend who did his best to convince me to come over…Right now I am thinking I might give it a crack for a while…Wouldn’t be moving there for a fair while as I’ve just started a new job and want to get a decent whack of experience in this position. Seems to me it would be pretty damned hard to train over there…
this dude is:
A lot will depend on exactly where you live… there’s a heap of nice places to go for a cycle about 30mins by train from the centre (eg around Guildford). Otherwise you could join everyone else doing countless 7-miles loops of Richmond Park.
Lots of places to run, and swim though.
+1 really - catch a train 30 minutes north to Radlett or wherever & its really quite nice & open country, can still be a lot of cars even on the smallest roads tho.
Riding in the city on aero bars - forget it! the roads are farked + cars & pedos everywhere
Quite a few pools but most of them are pretty scaley really, they dont seem to know how to make proper lane seperators so it can get very choppy I guess its good practice for open water (just dont swallow any…)
On the plus side I paid off my mortgage in 18 months working there 
Extremely easy. I lived there for three years and now live in New York - my thoughts on the two are:
Maybe I’ve just landed on my feet but it seems like there are a lot more triathletes and tri clubs in particualr in the US. Perhaps I didn’t look hard enough in London but the sport just generally seems more visible and I’ve found it much easier to fall in with a club and arrange group workouts.
Running is vastly superior in London compared to NY. No grid system means there are canal towpaths, a massive number of parks including the awesome Hampstead Heath, the Thames path, and if all that gets old actual quiet street to run along. I found it a great place to be a runner and suspect anyone else would to if they invest in a map and get a bit adventurous.
Access to cycling depends where you live but from the very centre it’s about 45mins to the countryside (just like Manhattan) but instead of being stuck on the 9W you have the whole of the home counties to explore. It’s good riding and you’ll find a lot of roadies in particular to annoy.
Swimming like in all cities is tough and expensive but it can be done and there are a couple of places where you can swim outdoors all year for free.
Bottom line it’s not Boulder but don’t turn down a good opportunity for fear you won’t be able to train - you definitely can.
There are a number of clubs based around London - Micheal Hutchison who has been the most consistant Time trialler in the UK lives in London so it is obviuosly not too much of a disadvantage for him - his book on his hour record is very good and offer an incite to the secret world of British time trialling http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Michael-Hutchinson/dp/0224075195 . He was suppose to come down and race the 25miler I was going to ride last Sunday but it got cancelled (I think he pleaded with the race organisers as I had hime worried with my 58:23 the week before on a slower course - his might have only beaten me by less than 10mins!
They are building a new cycle circuit which will replace Eastway which was a popular venue for both roadies and MTB’ers but is on the Land being used for the Olympic Park. Surrey road race league is a strong cycling League - I believe Steven Bayliss (UK long course Pro) road for one of the Surrey clubs. Richard Stannard lives near London and seems to do allright here is one open water swim Venue not far from London - http://www.openwaterswim.co.uk/ . You are a short travel to Cambridgeshire and Essex which I have been told have nice quick TT courses or Kent (which is where I live, but I am sure are courses are slow 
). http://www.londoncyclesport.com/ is a good resourse for cycling. There are plenty of run clubs - when I ran the Kent Cross county series a number of the Events were held in the outer London parts of Kent.
There are a number of good shops who will help you get sorted including Sigma sport pro bike shop is one who have sponsored a number of top UK pro’s at one time or another including Spencer Smith, Tim Don, Annie Emmerson & Andrew Johns. http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/home.html
clubs: http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/aboutus.html
http://www.thamesturbo.co.uk/memberforum/portal.php
http://www.trilondon.co.uk/
http://www.greenwichtritons.org.uk/
other London clubs: LONDON Barclays Capital Triathlon Club Belgrave Harriers Camden Triathlon Club (Jnr) Crystal Palace Triathletes East London Triathletes Ful-on-Tri Hillingdon Triathletes Jetstream Tri Club Kingfisher Triathletes London Dynamo Metropolitan Police Triathlon Club Optima Racing Team Otter Swimming Club RG Active Tri and Run Sauk Tri Serpentine Running Club SLH Tri Club South London Swimming Club South London Tri Swim For Tri Ltd Team Bodylab Team Economic Energy Trent Park Running Club Tri Condor Wimbledon Windmilers Z Tri - Epsom
Definitely. Tri is getting bigger and bigger every year in London. I live in Southwest London (Putney). We have the largest outdoor pool in Europe (100 yards) just down the road in Tooting. Great for running - you can either run alongside the river Thames or head for one of the big parks. Cycling is slightly more of a hassle but there’s Richmond Park a couple of miles away for short rides (7 mile loop, not too much traffic, lots of deer) and for long rides the first 5 miles or so can be a bit traffic-clogged but you can get onto pretty good roads after that once you know your way around. There’s some great tri-shops as well, SBR in Fulham and Sigma Sports in Kingston the best local ones for me.
Biggest problem in London is really the lifestyle - hours tend to be quite long and there is quite a strong culture of going out for a few drinks after work. Commuting to work can also take up a lot of your day depending on your journey.
Seriously, watch out for the zillions of traffic-obstructing deer in Richmond Park.
I can’t say much about tri training in London - I lived there long before I even considered doing a tri - but there are certainly endless options for running there, thanks to all the great city parks. Richmond Park is one, though it means getting out to Richmond (time-consuming) or living in the Richmond area (lovely and I’d move back there in a minute, but damned expensive). I used to run laps around Holland Park, Battersea Park on occasion…you won’t run short of places for getting your running in.
I’ve been training for triathlon and long-distance time-trialling in and around London for nine years now. It’s very easy to train. The Surrey Hills are excellent for weekend bike rides, the TT scene is eccentric but enjoyable and there are plenty of local tris in an easy and short (especially if you’re used to US distances) drive away. IMO the best way to do it is to live in the suburbs and commute by bike. When I worked off Oxford Circus, I used to be able to do a 14-mile long run to work once a week as well as 112-miles bike commuting over the other 4 days. I’d run at lunchtime in Hyde Park (my preferred place for sub-FT tempo runs), Regent’s Park (it’s 2.73-miles per lap of the Outer Circle!) and Primrose Hill (excellent for red-line fartlek hill sessions!) or up to Parliament Hill for a pre-marathon mid-week 10-miler.
But then, I was working for Runner’s World then, so every day there was a session to do and someone to run with (and a long queue for the two available showers!)
Commuting to work can also take up a lot of your day depending on your journey.
Do what I do and ride/run to & from work, taking the odd diversion on sunny days & get in a lap or 3 of Richmond before work (like I managed to do Monday AM).
Cartsman is right, the biggest problem i found when IM training was the pub culture - its a killer for sure.
My question back: is is easy to train for a tri with a bike, roads, running shoes, pools and other equipment.
I live in streatham in SW London.
I live 350 yards from Streatham Leisure Centre and a 25m pool. 2 miles or so from Crystal Palace and a 50m pool with lots of opportunities for lane swimming. Including Tooting’s outdoor lido.
I live 100 yards from streatham common which is rubbish for running but only 1/2 mile from Tooting which is ok, or 2.5 miles from Clapham which is better. There is loads of running all over london. When I worked in North london Hampstead is a great location.
Serpentine runners have races on the last friday of the month??? in central london.
As for cycling, from Streatham you can go south around Croydon and out towards Oxted and east grinstead and tonbridge wells through the North Downs / Weald and its rolling country side similar to Wisconsin, lots of farmland, and if you are smart about where to ride it can be quiet once you get out of London.
Swimming like in all cities is tough and expensive but it can be done and there are a couple of places where you can swim outdoors all year for free.
Bottom line it’s not Boulder but don’t turn down a good opportunity for fear you won’t be able to train - you definitely can.
Outdoor swimming year round in London?!?!?!? Who would swim outdoors in winter time in London?
the mentally infirm and the swimmers at the serpentine…I think
.
the mentally infirm and the swimmers at the serpentine…I think
Don’t forget the hardcore of the SLSC at Tooting Bec
.
Swimming like in all cities is tough and expensive but it can be done and there are a couple of places where you can swim outdoors all year for free.
Bottom line it’s not Boulder but don’t turn down a good opportunity for fear you won’t be able to train - you definitely can.
Outdoor swimming year round in London?!?!?!? Who would swim outdoors in winter time in London?
http://www.serpentineswimmingclub.com/christmas_day_race.htm
Obviously you can also always join one of the many groups of lunchtime swimmers by the Houses of Parliament on the Thames also.
Perhaps…